Although direct associations influence inferred mappings between colors and concepts in visualizations of categorical information [1]}, [2]}, [3]}, [4]}, direct associations and inferred mappings are not the same thing. Cases arise in which people infer that a concept maps to a weakly associated color, even when there are more strongly associated colors in a visualization. This distinction is shown in Fig. REF A. The bipartite graph (left) represents association strengths between each of two colors (purple and white) and each of two concepts (trash (T) and paper (P)) in an encoding system for recycling bins[2]}. The thickness of the edges connecting colors and concepts represents direct association strength (thicker indicates stronger association). Trash is more associated with white than with purple (thicker edges). Yet, when asked which colored bin is for trash (Fig. REF A right), people choose purple. Why?
